Being Left Changed Me
by KCLutz4475
Summary: Being left four days before her wedding, Bella must move on from Jake with their daughter Ainsleigh. How does NFL player, Emmett McCarty-Cullen, help Bella out. Can she let him in and love again, will their relationship be able to withstand all that the future holds? This story is adopted from toniaalice94
1. Being Left

**A/N:** This story is a collaboration with toniaalice94… Enjoy beta'd by the lovely Xo BellaItalia oX

Ch. 1 Being Left

It was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. My beautiful Vera Wang dress still hung from the hanger, taunting me. It's a strapless sweetheart cut, a full A-line gown with a drop waist bodice and the beautiful Chrysanthemum organza blossom skirt was the nightmare that I once believed was my dream. It was a beautiful dress; the dress of my dreams, the dress that I would never get to wear, the dress that I had designed for myself back when I was about 8. It was perfection in the form of a dress, and now it was of no use to me.

How could I let it get this far? How could I let myself be trapped by his lies? I was strong, I was successful. I was at the top of my game and then he waltzed into my life and took it all away from me. He set my friends against me; well, all but one.

I shook my head and heard a soft knock at the door, my baby. I had a 6 year old daughter who was my entire life. Her father, well, he was the asshat that left me standing at my rehearsal dinner two nights before our wedding with nothing but a text.

_Cancel the wedding. It's over. I don't want you or Ainsleigh anymore. ~Jake _

My beautiful girl came running to the door, dressed in her favorite pink dress and ballet flats. She had the face of an angel and I knew that when I looked at her, I would have to remember not to see her father in that gorgeous tanned skin. She had the most angelic smile that I had ever seen in my life and I couldn't believe that she was all mine!

"Mommy!" She called to me as she bounced into my arms.

I lifted her up and spun her around, just like I did every single time that I saw her. She laughed and it was like she was the only thing that mattered to me and that I could make her smile. I had gone through a difficult birth with her and it had resulted in the doctors telling me that I wouldn't have much of a chance of conceiving again. But as long as my Ainsleigh was okay, then so was I. My best friend, Alice, walked into the room, laughing as she saw that Ainsleigh was happy. We were all she had now. She was going to be the center of our lives from here on out.

I smiled over at Alice and walked over to her. I kissed her cheek saying, "Thank you for watching her. I couldn't believe that he would end it like that." I said to her with a shake of my head and kissed Ainsleigh's temple.

She knew that her father and I were always fighting and it didn't faze her. Well, it didn't seem to when I told her that Daddy wasn't coming home and that we were going to live with Auntie Alice and Uncle Jazz.

Jasper was Alice's boyfriend and he had been a constant in her life since we were in our first year of college. He had swept Alice off her feet in our second week as we walked out of our Mythology class. The stupid class we took, because it made up for our credits. It was an easy A and the teacher was fuck hot.

And then, there was Jacob. Jacob's a gorgeous man by anyone's standards; tall, dark and handsome and amazing with his hands. He could tell you something that could be the biggest lie and you knew it was wrong, but you would believe it. Well, I did at least.

I was sitting by myself waiting for Alice, which wasn't unusual. The mechanic's class that took place just down the corridor had just let out and these grease monkeys all came waltzing out the door like they were king shit, when everyone knew that they weren't even close.

But as I watched them all and wondered why they thought that they were so high and mighty, the last one walked out and I immediately couldn't help but to check him out. What was wrong with me?

He winked over in my direction and turned, only to find a group of slutty looking, scantily dressed cheerleaders, waving at him and acting like they had never seen a gorgeous specimen anywhere, like this male.

I turned back around and grabbed my books. I couldn't be bothered to wait any longer for Alice. I stood up and had my face slam into this wall – a wall that I was sure wasn't there before.

Reluctantly lifting my head, I found myself staring into a pair of dark eyes that had a sense of mystery and shine to them that I had never seen before. It was absolutely intriguing.

"E-excuse me…" I whispered as I ducked around him and could feel my cheeks flush red with my infamous fire engine blush. Everyone knew about it. Well, most people did anyway.

I tried to walk away from him as fast as I could without falling, trying to keep what was left of my self-respect and find my way back to my dorm.

Little did I realize that I dropped my wallet from my bag and it would be him that would return it to me.

We were getting ready to go out that night for what Alice called 'a small study group', when I knew for a fact that it was a party and that Alice wanted to get drunk and forget about her latest ex-boyfriend, Embry or something; some hippie.

"Ali, do I really have to go? I mean, I have an essay to get done. You go and I will be here to catch you when you can't walk to your bed."

She laughed at me and then it was quiet; an unusual concept in our dorm. Unfortunately, the silence was quickly broken by a knock on the door.

I stood up in my Dad's old police academy t-shirt that I loved to death, along with my sweats, and answered the door while Alice continued to get ready.

It was the guy from the mechanics class.

"Hi, you're Isabella, right?" He asked me as he ran a shaky hand through his own hair.

"Just Bella, please. Can I ask how you know where I live?" I asked as Alice stuck her head over my shoulder.

"Hey, you are handsome! Wanna party with us tonight?" She asked and it was obvious that she had already started to drink. I pushed her head back and walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind me.

"Sorry about her. You didn't answer my question." I pressed crossing my arms over my chest and raising an eyebrow.

He reached out and I saw my wallet was in his hand.

"You dropped this. I didn't take anything out of it, I swear. I just wanted to come and return it myself. Plus, I was wondering if you would go out with me, in return for my gentlemanly skills of returning your wallet?" He spoke with a confident swag to his voice. It was ridiculously hot. Well, to me anyway.

I looked down. What was I meant to say? 'No, I don't date mechanics' or 'No, I don't date at all?'

I dumbly continued to look down and sighed.

"Sure. But you have to pick me up tomorrow at 7." I said as I bit my lip and looked up at him. "Don't be late." I winked as I walked back into the dorm room and closed the door with my wallet in hand.

Alice pinched my cheek. "Where were you? I have been calling your name for a good 5 minutes!" Alice said, trying to be serious. But I could easily see through her façade; Ainsleigh giggled.

"What is so funny, Ains?" I asked her as I put her on the bed so that she was standing at about the same height as my own.

"Auntie Ali was only calling you for about a minute! She's silly, Mommy." My daughter dobbed on her Aunt and I laughed. It felt good to have a smile on my face once again, but my heart still hurt so much that I didn't even know how I was standing up at all.

Alice looked at me and could tell how I was feeling. I smiled weakly to let her know that I was okay. Her and Jasper and had been there all the way through my disastrous relationship with Jake. They both knew that he had occasionally hit me, but only where they couldn't be seen and never in front of Ains. They knew about the fights. Also, they definitely knew that he had cheated on me before; more than once, they knew before I did.

Jasper smiled from the doorway. I didn't even realize that he had been standing there.

"Are you sure about us moving in? I can go and find a cheap apartment or something?" I asked them both.

Jasper's parents were oil tycoons and that meant that Alice and Jasper never had to worry about money or somewhere to live or anything along those lines. Jasper had even offered to buy Ainsleigh and myself a whole apartment last night. He was the most amazing guy to be friends with and he was so whipped by Alice.

"Bella, you don't have to worry about a thing. Ainsleigh has her own room and Ali is excited about designing one for you. So, suck it up and get your pale ass into the truck and I will get your stuff." Jasper told me as he grabbed the dress from the mirror. I sucked in a breath. I didn't know what I was going to do with the wedding dress. I mean, it wasn't like I was going to get married anytime soon.

"Hey Jazz… thanks." I said as I reached up and kissed his cheek.

"What are you thinking about, Mommy?" I heard Ainsleigh ask. Alice must have sent her up to come and get me.

I smiled and shook my head. She didn't have to know. "Nothing, baby girl. Let's go back to Ali's and we will start looking at apartments for us to live in."

I looked at Ainsleigh and lifted her up into my arms. She laid her head on my shoulder and I smiled. We walked out to the car and I put Ainsleigh in to the car gently, and made sure that she was safe and secure.

I looked at Alice and smiled. "You are my lifesaver, Ali. Thank you."

I kissed her cheek and smiled as I got into the car and laid my head in my daughter's lap. She knew that I was still upset, and she knew how to fix it. She stroked my hair and it immediately soothed me. She knew how to make everything better.

My little angel, she was excited about the game, and to think about it, so was I. We were going to be just fine. I knew it in my bones.

**A/N:** I love reviews... I'm working on posting my stories on twiwrite as well, incase any witch hunters decide to delete any of my stories.


	2. First Meeting

A/N: I've adopted this story from toniaalice94… It will stay mostly the same as when she wrote it with a few changes here and there… Enjoy beta'd by the lovely Xo BellaItalia oX

Chapter 2

I was caught In the middle of a railroad track I looked 'round, And I knew there was no turning back My mind raced

(AC/DC – Thunderstruck)

Emmett POV

As I climbed into my Audi S5 coupe and started it up, I heard her purr gorgeously. I had the best car on the market at the moment and I knew that it was worth every penny of my extravagant contract that the Bears had me on.

I won't disclose my large pay packet that is graciously delivered to my bank account every weekend, but it did make for comfortable living.

I'm the type of guy who spends his nights out and then goes to training in the morning, only to find a note from the girl that I had spent the night with on my bench in a neat script. Funny enough, it always ended in a phone number that I never touched.

Yeah, I was that guy. But hey, no one complained.

Emmett Dale McCarty-Cullen was me. But everyone knew me as Emmett Cullen, the Chicago Bears quarterback with two Superbowls under my wing, as well as one MVP award from my first Superbowl. I was the guy that had the exact statistics for the current season as Tom Brady.

So I had a right to be that guy.

I know that I might seem cocky, over confident and have an ego that would rival the size of the state of Texas, but to my team mates and my family, I'm not that bad.

I'm the clown, the prankster and the all-around teddy bear of my family. I was also the son that my mother wanted grandkids from the most. Well, that's what it seemed like to me anyways.

My mother, I love that woman to bits, but sometimes she can be the most annoying female to ever …. No, scratch that. I've been with many much more annoying women.

But my mother always asks about girls and when I'm having kids; once she even came down to the locker room to confront me about not telling her about some girl that I was caught in compromising position with, not a good story.

Deep down, I was the man that wanted the family, the kids and the wife that would cook to my heart's content and also knows how to make me feel like I had a purpose.

My Mom knew that I wanted it more than anything, she just didn't say anything. She knew that I was slightly contented with sleeping around with floozies until the right girl steps my way.

My brother, Edward, was the new 'it' boy in the baseball world as the pitcher for the newly managed Chicago Cubs. The way that I see it is that the cubs are the little brothers that hide in the shadows of the great and mighty Bears.

Believe me, he hates that.

My brother and I are the best of friends and the worst of enemies, but we always know that we will have each other's backs no matter what the situation. Being a brother was the best experience for me growing up, for you see… I was adopted.

I was 5 when social services took me away from my parents. They were drug addicts and often had drug parties while I was there. They would shoot up and then forget that I even existed, so much so that when they started to do it, I would lay in my own filth for several hours, even days, until my parents noticed the stench and then did something about it.

I would be sent to the old lady who lived across the hall, because my parents thought that I was ruining their 'high' for them; she took care of me really well.

She would cook for me and clean and then she would play with me and would always make sure that I had a smile on my face.

The final straw came when my father first hit me. I asked him if I could go across the hall and watch Power Rangers with the gracious old lady.

It was like asking him to stop loving me and let me love the old lady and even in his drug induced trance, he knew what it meant. He lifted his hand and it was like watching it all happen in slow motion, with the sting being the worse pain that I have ever felt in my life.

I screamed so loud that the beautiful, gracious, old lady rushed through the door and took me into her arms. I knew that she couldn't take care of me forever, so I certainly didn't hate her for it.

I don't remember my parents very much, but all I remember is spending one day in the orphanage, before Esme came and took me into her arms and called me her son.

Esme was my angel through the clouds of the storm, she took me in with open arms and showed me the way that a boy my age should have been treated, with love and respect and showered in praise.

I pulled into the driveway of the Grand Plaza Penthouses in Chicago and gave the usual valet my keys. I usually tipped them all at the end of the week and they all knew the drill. It was something that had caught on with the rest of the tenants of the building.

My parents had bought me this huge apartment when I first signed my contract with the Bears and it had been my home ever since.

It had a huge entertainment room where I had three fifty inch Plasma screens mounted to my wall. It allowed me to analyze everything that I did wrong at every game. Believe me when I say that I used that shit a lot.

I would sit there on the day, every day after the next and before the next, analyzing my performance. I would watch every movement, every pass, and every touchdown to find out where I could change and get better.

I didn't know any better. It was just a habit for me to analyze everything that I did.

I headed into the kitchen and grabbed out a beer and some pretzels, cliché. I know right?

But it didn't matter that I was single and pretty lonely, I always knew how to make it seem like I had more on my plate.

A few hours passed of me watching the last game and I realized that I didn't really want to go out tonight. I had decided that I would go to my sister-in-law's restaurant.

Yep, Edward is married to a world famous model.

Rosalie Hale – now Cullen, was my brother's wife. Not only was she a model, but she owned the restaurant that now had raving reviews from critics all over the world. She was like that King Midas guy. Whatever she touched turned to gold.

She owned Forty-Twenty, the most popular restaurant in the city at the moment. Her brother was the bartender and one of my best mates. He was from Texas. Jasper Hale was a great guy and my own personal sound board when Edward was busy.

I loved spending time at the restaurant and knew that I was always welcomed, but it was always full of girls that wanted to be seen with the famous Emmett Cullen and sometimes it was a bit tedious.

I grabbed my keys and texted Jasper.

Nut Muffin – meet me at 40/20 in 15. Bring the Mrs.

I laughed at my own joke. Jasper was led around by his nuts by the little pixie lady that was the force of nature, Alice. She was crazy and she always spoke about some Bella chick.

She sounded pretty cool, but Alice had never let me meet her. I wonder why.

I felt my phone vibrate and smirked.

I ain't no nut muffin and I can't man; B and A are here. Come over if you want

I grinned. I couldn't wait to meet this B chick. It had to be Bella but the A, who was that?

I grabbed my keys and headed toward Jasper's place. It was a drive that I had done many times after some girl refused to leave my apartment when I said 'no' to the next round.

I was a growing boy, but hell, after 4 rounds. I needed to rest a little, well not really, but I wanted her gone. It was fine when Jasper made fun of me and Alice even laughed at me when I told them the story.

It took about 15 minutes and then I was comfortably pulled into the driveway of Alice and Jasper's place. I quickly jogged up to the front door only to have a little girl open it and run straight past me with Alice chasing her.

"Ainsleigh, come here. Bring back my pumps. Please, babe!"

I heard Alice call as I laughed and she turned and glared at me. My god, she was a scary bitch. I looked inside and saw an absolute beauty sitting in the lounge with The Stand, one of my brother's favorites, I like the film.

She looked up and sighed, "In the kitchen."

She had gorgeous brown hair and her lips, between her teeth biting it. Damn, that was going to be in my head for the next 30 years. Not only that, but I can already think about her in a wedding dress, walking down the aisle to me and I immediately realized that she was the one.

I don't have a spank bank, but I think I will need one, because I'm not sleeping with any other girls beside this one. Sad, I know, right?

I nodded, not trusting my mouth to not say something incredibly stupid. Heading into the kitchen, I immediately grabbed the Jackie D and took a huge swig.

Jasper snatched it from me.

"Dude, what the fuck?" He yelled as he pulled the bottle away and shoved it under the sink.

He put the child proof lock on it and knew that I wouldn't waste my time trying to undo it.

"The girl in the living room, who is she? And why am I already thinking about us getting married!" I screamed as I looked at him with wide eyes and yelled out in frustration. It was crazy and the hold that this stranger had on me before I had even found out her name.

"Don't you dare! She was left at the altar not even 4 days ago. You keep it in your pants and anyways, she has a daughter. So ha! She isn't even your type. Now, don't start, go and get Alice; no wait, set the table." He snapped at me.

So the girl was hers; she was absolutely gorgeous, just like her mother. I needed to know her. I needed to be a part of her life and I needed for the little girl to look up to me, like someone who she couldn't live without.

"Jazz, please. Just one day with her. I will take her and the kid to the zoo or something. Or I will take them to training and they can spend the day with me at the field. Please just once?" I begged.

He looked down and shook his head.

"It's too soon, Em. I'm sorry, but she needs time. Just give it a few months. Be her friend. Be friends with Ainsleigh. Don't rush her or yourself into this. It will be worth it." He proclaimed.

He always knew just what to say. It was crazy how he wasn't some preacher man or some shit like that. Jasper was like my Ms. Sally. My advice column that walked and Alice, well, she was like the walking fortune teller. I knew that she saw things. Well, she must of, because the minute that she met Rose and then she met Edward, she knew that they would get together, like soul mates.

Well my brother and Rose are definitely one of a kind. They fought in public, just to make the sex better. I mean it was a good idea, but they 'fought' over the littlest things, like a change in the menu or the way that Rose ran the place. It was crazy, but Rose loved it, and I think that, secretly, Edward did too.

I set the table just like Jasper demanded, he was like my husband. It was funny and everyone made a good joke out of it.

"Honey, the table is done."

I laughed as I turned around, expecting to see Jasper, but instead the beautiful girl from before was grabbing herself a glass of water.

"Hi there, I'm Emmett. Emmett Cullen." I introduced myself. She looked at me and smiled.

"I know who you are. My daughter has posters of you all over the hou…" She cut herself off and looked down.

"Sorry. Umm, well, she really likes you," She said.

I couldn't help, but wonder what had happened to her that made her so upset and look so beaten.

"I'm Bella. Bella Swan. And the little girl, that's my Ainsleigh."

She smiled with such pride and her eyes had a new life to them when she spoke of her daughter. It was like nothing could be wrong when it came to the little girl. It was a beautiful sight to see, if you knew what to look for and I had a feeling that I did.

She was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't wait to get to know her better. She was like the light at the end of the tunnel. A tunnel filled with floozies, but the light at the end none the less.

She would be my girl and I knew that it would be soon, but I had to give her time, just like Jasper said.


End file.
